Telford based Bridge Cheese has gained two prestigious awards for the way it has harnessed digital technology to grow turnover to £30m in five years. Working with WMG through Made Smarter West Midlands, they have implemented a series of recommendations that have improved efficiency and enabled growth.

Background

Bridge CheeseLink opens in a new window, based in Telford, supplies a variety of cheese and dairy products to the wholesale market, with many of its customers working in the food service industry or food manufacturing. Since its inception in 2018, it has grown rapidly, achieving double-digit growth year-on-year.

Challenge

Bridge Cheese had a mission to double its turnover from £30 million to £60 million in three years. However, to mitigate the pressures of rising costs and to maximise profitability, the two directors Michael Harte and Martin Bowden knew they had to tackle the efficiency of their processes. They were also keen to address issues with stock control and production management.

Michael Harte said:

“We realised that for us to grow further, the analysis of our production processes and costs needed to be a lot better. We had previously relied on spreadsheets and paper records to monitor much of our business’s performance.”

They were aiming to create a smart paperless factory with some automation that would enable them to grow without too much additional labour.

Solution

Telford and Wrekin Council referred the duo to the Made Smarter West Midlands scheme and Made Smarter digital expert Martyn Mangan recommended WMG come in to undertake a thorough audit. This included a “Digital Roadmap” highlighting the steps needed to digitise the business and boost productivity.

WMG's Denis PelychLink opens in a new window worked with Bridge to understand their requirements and what was impeding their growth potential. He suggested a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system would help improve real time data and visibility to better manage processes. He reviewed various solutions and providers before recommending a specialist food industry package with proven integration to Sage 200, which they were currently using.

The software and services cost was £70k but through Made Smarter, Bridge was able to access a £20k grant. During 2023 using a phased approach, the company implemented the new system which included customised KPI/status dashboards for factory visibility and decision-support.

Impacts

Now up and running, the new system handles everything from tracking orders, stock taking, monitoring machine uptime and downtime, and producing instant quality control reports. Key expected benefits include:

· 20-30% year-on-year growth expected, from £30m to £60m+ revenue in 3 years, including increasing export sales from 2% to 20%+

· 100% reduction in ‘on-time delivery failures’ of orders, plus a saving of the time wasted resolving production issues due to stock issues

· 15-20% improvement in current process efficiency, from process automation across order processing, planning, and production execution

· 10-15% additional efficiency improvement through shop floor digitisation of food safety compliance data capture and management

· 50% reduction in stock days which is around £1.5million of cash freed up to support investment

The outstanding results led to Bridge Cheese being crowned as overall winner of the Made Smarter Adoption Award for the West Midlands region in Birmingham as well as in their own area of the Marches. They represented the West Midlands at the national Made Smarter Awards on 27th June.

Testimonials

“For SMEs like us, support from a scheme like Made Smarter is so important. As part of this journey, Denis’s role became akin to a “non-executive director” advising us in all matters IT related. We are now taking the next steps towards a digital future for our business, and we would encourage others in our position to do the same.”

Michael Harte, Director, Bridge Cheese Ltd

“Bridge Cheese were a delight to work with and are highly motivated to build on their already excellent reputation for service quality. The new system will enable them to achieve their growth ambition without any risk to delivering on client expectations. There are many additional areas that they can focus on with digital going forward such as further automation which is very exciting.”

Denis Pelych, Digital Manufacturing Advisor, WMG, University of Warwick

To find out more about working with WMG on digitising your business contact WMG's SME TeamLink opens in a new window

For further information on Bridge Cheese visit: Welcome to our World of Cheese - Bridge CheeseLink opens in a new window

To read the full story and watch the video about Bridge Cheese’s journey on Made Smarter visit: Case Study - Bridge Cheese | Made SmarterLink opens in a new window